Sunday, 12 June 2011

Mojito Cupcakes on a sunny day

So in my last blog I mentioned how my friends really love cake, they also love cocktails, and for the past couple of months ever since I mentioned I found a recipe for a Mojito cupcake I've been pretty much hounded to make them. My lovely friend Mandie even graffitied my noticeboard telling me to make them.

So last week when It was forecast for a sunny day (a rarity at the moment) I decided to invite my friends round for a BBQ and some cocktails and I didn't want to disappoint so I cracked open the rum and got started on the Mojito cupcakes to accompany our cocktails. And that's exactly how they were enjoyed:

The recipe suggested them as mini cupcakes, but I know my friends and unless there was a ridiculous amount of them mini wouldn't go down to well, so I made them slightly smaller than usual as I had cute green polka dot cases but still ample enough size to please!

These cakes really turned out great and they tasted just like you would expect a Mojito cake to taste like. A soft moist cakes with kicks of lime, mint and sugar and a hint of rum. This recipe really impressed my friends too with one of them declaring them the best cupcakes yet so I will definitely be trying the other cocktail inspired cupcake recipes I have.

Any way here's how they're made: (Recipe from Hummingbird bakery's Cake Days)

In a saucepan bring the white rum and 30g of the sugar to the boil, reduce by half and set aside.
Beat together the butter, flour, salt, baking powder, lime and lemon zest, mint and remaining sugar. Mix until you have a crumb like consistency.
Mix together the egg milk and vanilla in a jug and gradually pour this into the dry mix mixing until you have a smooth batter.

Spoon cake batter into the cases up to 2/3 full. Place in the oven and bake for 12-15 min's for mini cupcakes or 15 to 20 for bigger or until the cakes are a light golden brown and springy to the touch.

While the cakes are still warm spoon the rum reduction over them (1/2 tsp for mini cakes 1tsp for bigger approx) Then leave to cool completely!

While the cakes are cooling, make and drink a mojito! ... erm I mean make the frosting!

Using and electric whisk, beat together the butter, icing sugar, lemon and lime zest until combined in a sandy consistency. Stir together the milk and rum and pour this into the butter mixture while still beating, whisk until light and fluffy.
Divide the frosting between the cakes. To finish, mix together the caster sugar with either 1 tsp of mint or lime zest and sprinkle over the top.

And that's it, the perfect treat to share with friends on a sunny day and because they have rum in the grown ups have no choice but to eat them all before the kids see.
I definitely recommend making these soon.

I've recently had more orders for cupcakes too , and I used this as an excuse to try 2 colour swirl icing for the first time. Making a vanilla cupcake and topping it with half vanilla butter cream and half pink strawberry butter cream. Here's my first attempt:

Not to bad I think. Its done by filling one side of the piping bag with white icing and the other half with pink. I found it easier to hold a knife down the middle of the bag when filling with the two icings.

Here they all are decorated, boxed up and ready to go along with plain pink and more chocolate orange cakes:

How cute are the little cupcake toppers, they were a bargain!

Any way that's it for today, I'm felling in a cookie dough kinda mood so that's what I'll be baking with this week.

5 comments:

Wow! What a cupcake filled post! The mojito cupcakes look really yummy (even though, I will admit that I've never tasted a mojito). I really like the look of your fancy cocktail as well. What a great way to spend time with friends..

aww the mojito cupcakes look seriously cute and yummy, the perfect treat for a group of girlies! I saw them in my Cake Days cookbook and thought I must try these. Plus the two-tone icing looks really pretty.